Dangerous commute one of greatest risks to Hanford nuclear workers. What can be done?

The Department of Energy needs to improve driving conditions for workers commuting to the Hanford nuclear site, both to save lives and improve driving time, says the Hanford Advisory Board.

It warned that commuter traffic and delays will only get worse as Richland and West Richland continue to grow and the vitrification plant at the nuclear reservation begins treating radioactive waste.

The board agreed on recommendations at its two days of meetings last week in Spokane that focused on issues at:

• The intersection of Highway 240 at the roundabout at Route 10 and Highway 225
• The Wye Barricade secure entrance to the site
• The Hanford 300 Area fire station

The board said “... the daily commute to and from the site represents an impediment to attracting and retaining Hanford workers, as well as being one of the greatest physical risks to the workers.”

“Over the last several years the number of vehicles commuting to the Hanford site has increased dramatically.”

There have been serious and also deadly accidents in recent years by workers commuting to and driving home from their Hanford jobs:

▪ In January 2024, a Hanford worker changed lanes early in the morning in his Ford 250 on Highway 240 just northwest of the intersection of Highway 240 and Highway 225/Route 10. The worker, Thomas “Woody Woodrich, died.

▪ In February 2022, a vanpool crash on Route 4 North at Hanford sent six workers to area hospitals, one with his neck broken in three place and vertebrae in his back broken.

▪ In January 2021, a Hanford worker, Reese Cameron, died after his car crossed a gravel median and slammed into an oncoming pickup as he drove on Hanford Route 4 toward the Wye Barricade for a Hanford night shift.

▪ In October 2019, a Hanford worker was passing several cars in a no-passing zone as he was headed to his job at 6:15 a.m. when his car crashed head on into a pickup on Route 4 on the secure portion of the Hanford site. Raj Ganapathy, the driver of the car, died.

▪ In August 2019, Kenneth “Ross” Crawford, of Mesa, and his wife were headed to their Hanford jobs a month before their planned retirement, when their car was hit by an oncoming car about 5 a.m. on Highway 24 close to the Vernita Bridge. Crawford died and his wife was hurt. A passenger in the car that hit the Crawfords’ car also died.

▪ In November 2018, a Hanford worker driving a motorcycle on Route 4 South toward the Wye Barricade entrance to the site hit a deer. Mikhail “Mike” Stewart died.

Hanford Route 4

DOE needs to make improvements to Route 4 South sooner than now planned, the Hanford Advisory Board said in recommendations to be sent to DOE.

The board says that DOE does not plan to start any road improvements to Route 4 South before at least 2030, despite possible increases to truck traffic both as the vitrification plant begins glassifying waste and also the possible grouting of waste moves forward.

Now Hanford Route 4 South is used by an average of 7,562 vehicles a day, according to Hanford data.

Expanding Route 4 South to make it a divided four-lane road would reduce delays at the Wye Barricade, the entrance to the site used by many Tri-Citians who work at Hanford, the board said.

Cars can be backed up for nearly 8 minutes at the barricade as workers are cleared to drive onto the secure portion of the site, it said.

The board also had concerns about the need to resurface Route 4 South.

DOE should build a separate parallel roadway before the resurfacing starts to prevent disruption of the commute, the board said. A 2020 DOE Hanford roadway study made the same recommendation.

Highway 240 roundabout

A roundabout was built in 2023 to improve the intersection at Highway 240 where it meets Highway 225, which becomes Hanford Route 10 as traffic moves onto the Hanford site.

It has been a “great safety improvement,” the board said.

But it also caused traffic backups on Highway 240 that may become worse as traffic entering Route 10 increases as plans call for adding housing on Lewis and Clark Ranch land near Highway 225 in West Richland and Richland expands along Highway 240.

The roundabout has a “slip lane” that allows traffic coming from Richland on Highway 240 to turn onto Route 10 without entering the roundabout circle.

DOE needs to work with the Washington State Department of Transportation to either extend the slip lane to move traffic off Highway 240 with fewer delays or to resurrect an abandoned cutoff road from Highway 240 to Route 10, the board said.

300 Area emergency vehicles

The Hanford Fire Department is restricted from using the merge lane leaving the 300 Area just north of Richland and must instead travel through an area with other traffic and pedestrians with emergency vehicle lights and sirens on, according to the advisory board.

The response time is increased and there is a greater potential for accidents, the board said as early as 2019.

The issue was expected to be resolved as the fire station just north of Richland was closed and another fire station built in central Hanford.

However, now the aging station will remain open longer as work has been delayed to clean up a high-level radioactive waste spill under the 324 Building just north of Richland, according to the board.

In 2023, DOE discovered that the decades-old waste spill beneath the building was deeper and wider than anticipated, and a new cleanup plan will need to be executed that likely will not have the spill cleaned up by a legal deadline next year.

The fire station is expected to continue to operate during the spill cleanup.

The board did not give a specific recommendation on the issue, but said DOE needs to address the issue of pedestrian safety.

This story was originally published September 16, 2024 at 11:22 AM.